Left of Forever by Tarah DeWitt
Contemporary Romance
May 20, 2025, by St. Martin’s Griffin

Review by Melanie

At some point, when I was reading this beautiful second chance romance, I started thinking about the reasons why I’m drawn to the romance genre so much. I’m almost exclusively a romance reader and the reason started to slowly dawn on me the deeper I got into the book. Romance is that rare genre built on the premise of hope. Think about it. You have two or more characters, human or otherwise, searching for something, whether it be someone to call their own or a place to belong to, a community to be a part of, and that journey always begins with the idea of hope, that there’s something better out there, worth risking their heart for. Hope is what helps us face the day, allows us to get through the worst of times with the expectation – the hope – that better days are ahead. 

Nowhere is this idea of hope so brilliantly illustrated than in this book, a poignant, heartachingly tender second chance romance between the once married Wren and Ellis Byrd who, five years post-divorce, are beginning to realize that they might still be harboring feelings for each other. 

The two married young, when an unplanned teen pregnancy forces them to grow up far quicker than anticipated. Although, the argument could be made that Ellis, a firefighter who lost his mom as a child and essentially was tasked with raising his younger siblings, has always been a grown up. For a while things are good and even while struggling with all the responsibilities thrust upon them, Wren, a baker, and Ellis, muddle through, deeply in love and committed to being the best parents they can be. 

Unfortunately though, real life is hard and sometimes, even the love you’ve had for the boy you’ve known all your life isn’t quite enough and Wren asks for a divorce and Ellis is all too willing to comply. There’s bitterness and resentment compounded by infertility, an ectopic pregnancy resulting in emergency surgery for Wren, parental health issues, and pretty soon, the metaphorical house that Wren and Ellis built so painstakingly comes crumbling down.

Cut to present day and the two are on the cusp of becoming empty nesters when Sam, their only child, is about to graduate high school and go off to college. Ellis has come to realize through a series of events that he is still deeply in love with his ex-wife and convinces her to go on a road trip with him, one part celebration for successfully coparenting their son and sending him off to college and one part a journey to see whether they might have a second chance at getting it right. 

What follows is a jouney of healing, of opening up, revealing their deepest hurts and laying themselves bare, both figuratively and literally. There is sex (whoa, these two have some seriously hot sex), but the sex is so very emotionally initmate that at times, I felt like I was peeking in on something I shouldn’t be. The trip is both hilarious and heartwarming, and Ellis and Wren have to come to terms with the mistakes of the past before they can commit to a future together. 

One of the best things about this book aside from the two MCs and the glorious romance unfolding between them, are the side characters, specifically Ellis’ siblings and Wren’s mom and their son, who are all incredibly nosy and well-meaning and highly invested in the outcome of this road trip. What I really love is that even with the two of them divorced, their extended family have remained a part of both their lives. Wren spends holidays with Ellis and his siblings, Ellis helps his former mother-in-law with her yard work, this is a tight knit bond that has not dissipated with the dissolution of their marriage. 

And in fact, their family is so invested that a trip that starts off with separate hotel rooms quickly devolves into situations with only one cabin with only one bed and only one tent. There’s an entire community of loving friends and family urging them on but only Wren and Ellis get the final say on how their relationship evolves. The ending is so sweet and lovely and tender, it honestly made me a little emotional reading it. 

This is ultimately a beautiful romance about two people who had every reason to lose all hope and yet…all it took was the tiniest spark of hope to build into a flame that could just last for whatever is left of forever. 

Grade: A

Content Notes: reproductive health issues, mentions of grief, mentions of therapy, parental loss, burn injuries, mentions of hospitalization